Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

Ted Lasso S4 E3

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“Richmond’s Got Talent”

The injury bug strikes the strikers for Ted Lasso’s new Richmond Women’s team. Well, one is an injury and one is a pregnancy, so I shouldn’t qualify it as an injury. But the strikers are out, so this leads to an open tryout.

The open tryout did not bring the football version of Susan Boyle. There is an option though and it was one that Coach Alice mentioned. She once coached a striker that was one of the best she’d seen, but who had quit to go to law school. Her name was Gemma and she had had enough of Alice’s demeanor toward her back then and did not want to hear anything from her now.

Gemma couldn’t deny the Lasso charm though, and it seemed as if Ted had reignited the passion for the sport inside her, and she came to join the team. Of course, she came on the day of the historic first game. She also wound up scoring a late goal after being inserted into the game near the end.

This was not only Gemma’s story though as Keeley was having a hard time getting the kit delivered for the first game, a young mother Lizzie was one who stood out at the open tryouts and was able to make the team, and Rebecca kept standing up her boyfriend at a restaurant.

I do like the new cast of the football team that we are starting to get. There are some intriguing characters that are more than just the one note that it appeared they were previously.

It was nice to see the much more presentable Coach Beard this week, no longer looking like a caveman in a Richmond outift.

This has been a decent season so far, even if I do not think it has matched the original three seasons in overall quality as of yet.

Boston Legal S1 E10, E11, E12

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“Hired Guns”

“Schmidt Happens”

“From Whence We Came”

One of my favorite quotes from Boston Legal happened in episode 11. It is a thought have many times in the restroom…

“I keep an extremely clean penis“

Alan Shore is in response to a woman who had entered the men’s restroom and had introduced herself, while Alan was at the urinal. He extended a hand to shake and she said that he is going to wash that.

Hence, the clean penis comment from Alan.

That woman was Shirley Schmidt, named partner in Crane, Poole & Schmidt, played brilliantly by Candice Bergen. Shirley Schmidt becomes one of my absolute favorite characters on this show over the next four and a half years. This was her first appearance and Candice Bergen immediately was placed as a powerhouse, keeping Denny Crane off balance.

In “Head Games,” Alan winds up getting held at gunpoint by a disgruntled father who had recently lost his children because of Alan. Yes, the father would take his children without permission to Peru over Christmas. The mother asked for help from Alan. I mean… it is kidnapping.

This whole situation led to another classic moment of the series. Denny Crane using his rifle to shoot the father. Denny had the gun in his desk and had Tara open the door when he yelled “Pull!” As Denny said, he was a Marine, “trained as a sniper… or was it a pilot?”

We also get the debut in episode 11 of Bernard Ferrion, a small man who killed his mother by hitting her on the head with a skillet. Alan was able to free Bernard on a technicality, and then gave him a kindly speech about being good. Then next episode, Bernard is back after killing his neighbor with a skillet as well. Alan was disappointed, and sent Bernard to Tara.

Bernard is a surprisingly complex character for the short arc that he appeared. You could tell how lonely he was, and how he had a kind heart, despite being, as Alan called him, evil.

Betty White arrived as Alan’s new assistant, Catherine Piper. White had played this role on The Practice and had come in contact with Alan then. Seeing her resume this role was an awesome thing.

The arrival of Shirley put a charge into this show and gave the show a foil to Denny that was every bit as formidable as he was. Certainly, she was more capable of standing up to Denny than Paul was. All Shirley had to do was whisper those two little words… “Denny Crane” and Denny would shiver.

Rick and Morty S9 E10

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“Field of Dreams”

I am now caught up on the Rick and Morty series, finishing up with the episode 10 that debuted on HBO Max today, but had been shown on Comedy Central earlier in the summer.

The new episode started off as an enjoyable story of Morty going through the multiverse and attending other Morty’s funeral. Morty is discovered as he was watching the funeral by a family that was grieving “Mort,” the kid who was so much more successful and loved by his family.

Morty started spending time with this family, thinking that they were better than the family he had. Morty found out that this Smith family was extremely crazed and chasing after him to replace their Mort.

Morty went to this universe’s Rick, who had stopped drinking, had gotten married, and was living a happy life as a college professor. This was when the episode took a darker turn that I was not a real fan of.

As Rick was trying to help find a way to get Morty home, I knew what was going to happen. I knew that Rick was going to need to go back to drinking to get the work done. Watching Rick throw away his life, his sobriety, his wife to the bottle was so sad and too predictable. I wanted this Rick to not transform into yet another drunken Rick.

Of course the ending was anything but predictable as the whole family is butchered in their final confrontation. This allowed Morty to get back to his regular universe with a happier feeling toward these people.

The whole motorcycle scene at the end of the episode was odd.

Overall, this was an up and down episode for me, and with different shades of dark, it did not do well for me.

There is a season 10 in works right now with a rumored release during the summer of 2027.

Lanterns S1 E1

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“Pilot”

The first episode of DC Studio’s latest TV show premiered on HBO Max this Sunday night. Lanterns started off with Hal Jordan training John Stewart as his replacement.

We start the story in 2016, with a gruff Hal Jordan being very tough on his trainee, John Stewart.

The show ended in 2026 with Hal Jordan dead on the bleachers of a football field.

There had been rumors about Hal Jordan dying at the end of the pilot, but with the 2016 story going on, this is how we will get a full season of Hal alive and John moving forward.

Of course, there will be some story in 2026 too since the dead body of Hal nor John had the Lantern ring. Where is it? Who took it? Who killed Hal? These points I expect will correspond to the storyline from 2016.

I do like shows that play with the manner in which the narrative is presented. Of course, LOST is the immediate show to come to mind, and former LOST writer Damon Lindelof is a writer and executive producer on the show. That always could hook me.

I have enjoyed Green Lantern as a character, despite not collecting his comic title. I think the way this show has been set up, kind of a True Detective-style show, with this mystery of what is going on in this little town in Nebraska where Hal Jordan originally received the ring was some solid writing.

I found Kyle Chandler to be excellent as an older, grumpier Hal Jordan, who was training his replacement John Stewart despite not wanting to have a replacement. Aaron Pierre as John Stewart, was good, but I do not think he had the amount of material by comparison yet. Pierre is a solid actor and I think he will get better as the series goes on.

I am invested in the mystery that has been set up and the ending with Hal’s death only served to increase the interest I have in this series. I expect to be watching this every Sunday night until October.

Boston Legal S1 E7, E8, E9

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“Questionable Characters”

“Loose Lips”

“A Greater Good”

I watched episodes 7, 8, & 9 of Boston Legal tonight. They fell around the Christmas holiday as there were some background mentions of Christmas, including a crossdressing mall Santa that had been fired.

There were several questionable lawyering tactics used by the lawyers at Crane, Poole & Schmidt. And it was not just Alan Shore. In fact, it seemed that most of the lawyers on the show were influenced by Alan’s iffy choices. Some examples:

  • Lori pretended to be a therapist to meet with a client who verbally made threats to murder his wife to his therapist.
  • Denny went ahead and outed a whistleblower on the stand after Paul Lewiston specifically told Alan not to do it.
  • Tara approached another attorney on a case and pretended to be a flight attendant to get info on the case.
  • Brad, very jealous of Alan, made a wager on a case with Alan and then tried to manipulate the outcome by getting a unfavorable judge assigned to it.
  • Even Paul Lewiston turned a blind eye on Lori’s trouble which led to the wife, fearful for her life, shoot and kill her husband, who used the therapist to get out the bad thoughts only and had no intention of ever following through with it.

Meanwhile, Alan is just trying to do the right things for his clients, albeit by some methods that should not be done. Paul actually recommended a couple of times for other lawyers to approach Alan because he knew of ways to get things done.

Jon Bernthal appeared as a friend of Lori’s who wound up getting shot in the shoulder when he tried to hold up a convenience store. They were able to convince a judge that Bernthal had the right to not allow the doctors to take the bullet out. The bullet was the only evidence they had against him. Tara got info from Alan about a doctor (working as a vet) who could take out the bullet without giving it over to the police.

These three episodes were all good, but maybe not as awesome as some of the others. Next episode looked like a banger.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #82

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Black Bird

“We are Coming, Father Abraham”

Episode two of Black Bird on Apple TV + is the next step on the Sunday Morning Sidewalk.

The thing that sticks out to me most in this episode is the manner in which they tell this story in different time frames, and how they all kind of come together by the end of episode two. There were flashbacks back to Greg Kinnear investigating as Brian Miller, tying to get Larry Hall, played by Paul Walter Hauser, to confess to the killing. By the end of the episode, Larry is in jail and staring across to James Keene, played by Taron Egerton, in another cell.

Interestingly enough, my guess is that we will not have any more flashback sections of the story since it was used just to show how this all was set up. I might be wrong on that, but that is the way it feels.

The whole confession scene with Larry was haunting. Paul Walter Hauser does an amazing job here as he is able to maintain the slight uncertainty about this character. I can see why the people in Larry’s life believed in him.

Things are ready to move forward hard now.

Muppet Show S2 E13, E14, E15

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Guest Star: Rudolf Nureyev

Guest Star: Elton John

Guest Star: Lou Rawls

Three guest stars who could handle the entertainment section of the show. While Rudolf Nureyev may not have been the singer in comparison, he did do some great dance routine. As I have said before, the Muppet Show would use some classic culture or high brow stuff. In this episode alone, they had a couple of ballet routines and jokes about Shakespeare.

However, you can also tell when they have a huge musician on. Elton John did four songs. This would have been my introduction to Crocodile Rock. Elton John also did Benny and the Jets and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and sang Don’t Go Breaking My Heart with Miss Piggy.

Elton John worked out great since he was basically a Muppet himself. He displayed such a wardrobe on this episode.

Sam the Eagle was very active in the first two episodes as he was so excited about Rudolf Nureyev bringing culture to the show only to be disappointed by him (I mean… Swine Lake? Can you blame Sam?). Sam also was not sure about Elton John’s attire.

The Elton John episode included a running gag with the Swedish Chef and a chicken. Chef was chasing the chicken with a hatchet. Then, the tables turned and Chef was being chased by the chicken.

I did not recognize many of the song done by Lou Rawls, but his jazz scat with the Electric Mayhem was truly epic. He did have a remarkable voice.

In that third episode, Fozzie was going to do an act on roller skates. It was a running joke throughout as he rolled uncontrollably around backstage.

Silo S3 E7

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“Radio”

Lukas and Kennedy went out of the silo and attempted to go to Silo 17. They did not make it. However, the surprise was that they were apparently shot. At the end of the episode, it sounded as if Lukas and Kennedy survived and reported that he had the kids that he went to retrieve. That still makes me question the entire thing. It sure sounded like bullets (probably from drones) when Lukas and Kennedy lost contact.

Because of this apparent failure of this mission, there was an attempt to blow up judicial in a way to try and stop the poison gas. Juliette struggled with the decision as she realized that whatever plan she decided upon would lead to death for hundreds of people.

Everything got called off when we discovered that Lukas and Kennedy were not dead (or so we think).

There was some big developments between Sims and Camille as they had a huge conflict about Sims’s actions. Camille is feeling the pressures of leading the IT. The Algorithm seemed to be manipulating her too.

Then we see the creation of the silos from the flashback time. We discovered that billionaire Per Stensen is behind the construction of the silos in Georgia.

Things are getting wilder as the the season is on its way to a conclusion.

Boston Legal S1 E3, E4, E5, E6

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“Catch and Release”

“Change of Course”

“An Eye for an Eye”

“Truth Be Told”

I do love this show. It is so well written and acted.

William Shatner may be most well known forever as James T. Kirk, but his best career performances come as Denny Crane. The buffoon-like behavior hiding a deep seeded concern over his health. Arrogant and sarcastic, Shatner’s eyes revealing the truth.

James Spader brings such a complexity to Alan Shore. He is willing to do anything, even step over the lines or morality, to get things done. Many times, his motives are pure. His methods, on the other hand, are anything but. Simplicity, Tara described Alan as split into three people: the Good Alan, the bad Alan and the Naughty Alan. Though it may be too simple for this character, the description does work.

It was sad the way Alan took advantage of Sally, which seemed to be a way for Alan to get Sally to leave him. There is a deep neurosis to Alan and his relationships pay the price. Yet, he is completely loyal to former lovers and women that he respected. He is a contradiction in terms for Alan. It is why I was so happy that, at the end of episode 6, when it appeared that he was going to go and have sex with Dana Delany’s character, a woman he always had desires for, but he turned up in a motel room with Tara instead. Had Alan slept with Delany, the betrayal would have been tough to swallow, especially after he dealt with Delany’s husband’s infidelity. I don’t want Alan to be a hypocrite even if he had many otehr bad traits.

Episodes 3-6 again do not focus as closely on Alan and Denny’s relationship as they could, but there are moments. When Alan came to share their whiskey in Denny’s jail cell after he was charged with contempt of court, they exchanged a wonderful scene where Denny worried about his mental capacities. The whole possible Alzheimer’s Disease arc and how it could destroy the image and legend of “Denny Crane” follows Denny through the entire series.

Alan and Denny are together when Denny lets it slip that Donnie Crane was not his son after all, only for Donny to hear. Freddie Prinze Jr. appeared as the supposed son of Denny Crane, and his devastation in this scene made it all the better.

There are several fun moments of Fourth Wall breaking during the show. In this crop of episodes, my favorite was when Alan Shore said he wanted to be on cable because that was where all the best work was happening. Of course, Boston Legal aired on ABC.

Episode five featured one of Alan’s top line closing arguments. We have not seen too many of those yet in the season, but there will be plenty more to come. This one was just right on the nose for his case that you can tell how the case will go.

Lori is involved more the last few episodes, and they are still teasing a potential relationship between Alan and Lori. Probably one that would be highly toxic.

Stuart Fails to Save the Universe S1 E4

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“Spoiler: Stuart Makes a Wallet”

Okay. Episode four is easily my favorite episode of this show so far. It is the first time that I did feel a slight tinge of embarrassment watching it.

Stuart Fails to Save the Universe has Stuart in a mental institution with Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler (reprised by Mayim Bialik) as his therapist. The whole time Stuart is in the institution, he was receiving subtle hints that everything was not real.

This is a trope that has been done many times, including, just off the top of my head, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but this worked really well. Stuart “put in the work” to make himself sane after finding out that he was married to Denise and they had two kids. He seemed to be living the perfect life.

However, of course the truth was different as Stuart realized when he said that he never has perfect things happen to him.

The four of them turned up in a Matrix-like situation, pulling themselves out of the goo. Yet, it was not done yet, as Stuart opened a tear in the reality and the four of them found themselves in an all-white area with their travel machine.

They ended up in a forest surrounded by a mysterious group of people.

I did enjoy this episode considerably more than any of the other episodes. It did feel like it rushed through the story. I would have liked to see more from this Matrix world, and the ending turned out to be somewhat anticlimactic. Still I really enjoyed this episode and would have liked more of it.

Oh… and I LOVED the Weird Al Yankovic cameo!

Boston Legal S1 E1, E2

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“Head Cases”

“Still Crazy After All These Years”

I have been seeing a ton of clips of Boston Legal on TikTok recently, and it influenced my decision to start a rewatch of Boston Legal. I found it on Hulu and I discovered that there were only five seasons. I really thought there were seven of them. Episodes varied per season as season one only had 17 whereas season 2 had 27 of them.

Watching these first to episodes of the series, it struck me how this cast changed over the years. Some of the characters of the first season were flashes from my memory, such as Lori Colson, Tara Wilson and Sally Heep. These women were replaced as the years moved on. No Shirley Schmidt, though I do think she comes soon in season one.

The appearance of the black Little Orphan Annie was a classic case that I did not think was in the premiere episode. It featured a cameo from the Reverend Al Sharpton as Denny’s “Rabbit out of a hat.”

It showed how questionable Alan and Denny’s tactics were at times when they were doing things that were for the “greater good.” I loved how these characters were shades of grey. They are complex and written so amazingly.

Alan Shore debuted on The Practice, as did Denny Crane. Their relationship was not as prevalent in these first two episodes as it would become. The chemistry between James Spader and William Shatner was off the charts. They were better than most couples on TV at the time. These first two episodes did not feature it as much.

Denny’s ongoing inner doubt about his lost of his abilities was highlighted early here and would be a major plot point through to the end of the series.

It was fun to see Elizabeth Mitchell, who I got to know as Juliet from LOST, make an appearance in episode two here. She played one of Alan’s ex-girlfriends who was committed after she tried to kill Alan. Alan helped defend her when she was trying to be released from the asylum. This story extends into episode three.

This David E. Kelley project joined several other Kelley shows that I loved (including Picket Fences, and The Practice).

I am looking forward to watching this 100 episodes moving forward.

Ted Lasso S4 E2

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“Carol of the Bells”

The second episode got Ted out of Kansas City and back to Richmond, and we get to meet some of the weird team members on the female team and the assistant coach Alice Chilton. Chilton was angry about being passed over by Rebecca for the head job, and made comments to her hinting at her being sexist (or not a Feminist). Chilton resigned her position but stuck around for a week to help walk Ted through. Of course, we all knew she was staying as she saw the light that was Ted Lasso.

We spent some time with Beard, who has apparently gone crazy and doesn’t want to hurt Roy. Beard’s excessive hairstyle was outrageous.

Chilton’s comment sent Rebecca into a tailspin, which led to her introspection.

The new locker room for the women was a great scene, and seeing Roy and Keeley flirt as Roy fixed the locker room (which was originally the visiting team locker room) from the tricks Roy was pulling to try and get the edge on the other team.

I enjoyed this episode too. Ted Lasso is awesome and one of the best characters around.

Things are getting set up but I would hope that there will be an overarching story for the season. At this point, it seems like the story is trying to keep the new team afloat.

Apple TV + is the streamer for Ted Lasso.

X-Men ’97 S2

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“Survival of the Fittest”

This finale, like much of the season, had ups and downs.

The battle between the X-Men and X-Force/X-Factor was solid with some great mutant on mutant action. Cable vs. Cyclops and Jean.

Rogue’s whole arc was fascianting.

The final battle with Apocalypse and Celestial Rogue was a little anti-climactic. However, the end with Nightcrawler’s sacrifice was heartbreaking, but felt like it needed something more. It felt as if they almost had me emotionally, but it ended so suddenly that it did not have the impact they wanted.

Apocalypse in his little ball form was silly looking.

One must wonder about Storm’s definition of a light touch.

The ending scenes with Mystique killing and replacing Val Cooper as announcement of President Creed set up next season.

Season two has been enjoyable, but a noticeable step backwards. It seemed to be too rushed and lacked some of the depth of season one. In fact, without season one, season two would probably be considered a great success. As of now, ZI liked season two. It just was not what I hoped for overall.

Rick and Morty S9 E9

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“Salute Your Morts”

Yesterday, I had finished the ninth season of Rick and Morty… or, at least, finished the episodes of the ninth season that were currently available on HBO Max. There were two more episodes from the ninth season that were not yet available on the streamer. Today, the ninth episode was dropped on HBO Max and I watched it.

“Salute Your Morts” started off with Beth and Jerry called to the principal’s office to deal with Summer and Morty, who were doing whatever they wanted at school as disruptive forces. Principal Vagina was going to expel Summer and Morty until Rick portaled into the office and turned Principal Vagina into a giant carrot.

As a way to try and herd in the kids, Rick dropped them off on a different planet at a camp. Unfortunately, the camp they were at had been taken over by the kids, who killed all of the campers.

Meanwhile, with the kids gone, Jerry and Beth found Summer’s drug stash and smoked what was revealed as “Forever High,” where the parents spent the whole time stoned out of their mind. Rick joined in later as well.

I found this very funny and this new episode fit well into the strong season 9 batch of Rick and Morty. While seeing the parents stoned was a fairly regular storyline, seeing Jerry and Beth across the universe with anything possible made this funny.

Next Monday should see the final episode of season 9 released.